Rise Above
by VicariousLady89
Summary: I honestly can't say what drew me to the stranger with the wild hair, but his talk of science and the future excited me! While I didn't like to interact with other humans, there was just something about this one I couldn't help but trust. But not everyone seems to think he's doing the right thing. Rated 'T' for now, but that will change later to an 'M'. Will get dark, but steamy.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello! Welcome to my Dr. Stone fic! Please note that there will be mature content, possible triggers, and Kohaku will be a little OOC based on changes I've made to her past. She's still a badass, though. Enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Dr. Stone.**_

* * *

It was hard to say when things started getting easier in my life.

To put it bluntly, at at the age of twelve, my father died in a lion attack after my mother had died from a strange illness and left me an orphan. My sister fell ill not long after as well, which resulted in her early death. Not long after my sister died, I was shunned from Ishigami village for reasons I never liked to think about, leaving me all alone in a world full of nothing but stone statues.

For the first few months on my own, the majority of my time was spent simply surviving. I taught myself how to hunt and fish efficiently with the small bit of knowledge my father and survival lessons had given me. I spent two long years figuring out how to farm with basic knowledge and grow what meat couldn't provide. If I wasn't busy hunting or farming, I was busy building. While I wasn't a master constructionist, I knew that I could be in time, so I was constantly making whatever improvements possible on my small hut. After being dispelled from the village, I traveled a few miles North so I could settle, putting together what could roughly be called a shack. While I was only twelve years old, I knew what had to be done to survive. Most kids in the village were taught at a young age, and I was no exception. The hardest part was learning to defend myself from the wild beasts scouring the forest.

Fast forward to more current times where I was suddenly eighteen. And I was _still having issues with beasts_. My movement through the forest made the trees look like a blur as I whipped past them, my waist-length blonde hair flowing behind me as I smoothly dodged branches and rocks. A loud snarl sounded behind me, indicating that the lion I had disturbed was gaining on me quickly. I had gotten a good swipe on the creature when it first surprised me by the river, taking out its left eye with my knife, but it quickly pounced me and knocked my knife into the river, forcing me to escape and retreat. There was little-to-no chance I would be able to outrun it, so I only had one other option – go somewhere that it couldn't. My legs beneath me burned at the effort, and I was finding it difficult to keep my breathing steady as I ran. Up ahead, I could see where the ground suddenly stopped and dropped down a very tall cliff. Glancing behind me, hoping the lion had given up before I needed to implement my plan, and felt my heart drop a little further. It was even closer, and clearly not giving up. That didn't work well for me, considering I knew what my next step had to be to survive.

Once I could go no further, I leapt.

I could feel my feet leave solid ground, my hair swirling around me to catch up with the wind, before I plummeted over the side of the cliff. I felt the weightlessness of free-falling, the air rushing past me as I descended down the cliff-face in a dive. Twisting around midair, I looked through the flutter of hair to see the lion make a last minute stop at the edge, watching me fall to a place it didn't want to go. Laughing to myself, I held my breath as I splashed into the large, deep pond that I knew lay at the bottom of the drop.

Popping my head back above the surface of the water, I swept my hair back and laughed aloud, feeling the exhilaration of having narrowly avoided being eaten. After pulling myself together, I made the swim back to shore, wringing water from my clothes and hair as I trudged from the shallows and collapsed on the grass. The area around me was quiet, and there were no other signs of danger, so I pulled myself to my feet and began the walk back towards my home. I hadn't gone too far for my venture to the river, but the lion chase took me much further away than I liked, leaving me with quite a hike back.

By the time I reached my hut, it was already dark and the moon was rising. Pulling my satchel from my shoulder, I set it on the ground next to the entrance and observed the clearing. My hut wasn't overly large, but the constant tweaks and additions I had made over the years did make it a bit more roomy than usual. It was definitely bigger than what was standard for the huts in the village, but I supposed it was whatever. It wasn't like the villagers were there to criticize me for it. At first, the hut could barely stand, the size being just enough for me to lay down. As I became more comfortable in my survival situation, I kept extending the walls and roof until I had a decent amount of space on the inside.

In one corner of the hut, there was a table I had made out of a tree stump which I had my light sitting on. The light was just a simple bowl of oil with a wick made of rope that was aflame, but it worked quite well. In another corner, I had a pallet of rough leather blankets that I used as a nest of sorts. Another corner was filled with my weapons rack. I had several different spears and knives, a few hatchets, and a couple of mallets. The final corner I always kept empty for emergencies, such as if I needed to bring in my drying leathers if it rained or if I needed to bring some firewood in to dry. The rest of the hut was pretty bare.

On the outside, the clearing I had settled in was quite large as well. Next to the hut, against the wall, several more spears I had been working on were propped up next to a clay pot. The clay pot was filled with water, which I used for drinking and watering my garden which was right next to it. The garden wasn't very large, only about three-quarters the size of my hut, but it produced a lot of edible vegetation. It took me several years of trying and failing to get to where I didn't poison myself anymore. I had a large fire pit in the center of the clearing, which had a spit above it for cooking. The rest of the clearing was pretty bare except my pile of firewood at the edge of the trees, which sat next to one of the strange stone statues of a woman that I never paid much attention to.

Using the moonlight to see, I threw a few pieces of wood onto the pit and went back inside. Holding a small piece of lighter knot above my candle bowl, I let the wood catch and then carefully carried it back to my pit. Kneeling next to the pile, I shoved the quickly flaming piece of knot under the logs. Once the fire was built up properly, I grabbed two small fish I had gotten from the river earlier from my satchel and hung them over the fire to cook. While the smell of freshly cooked fish filtered through the air, I laid back and stared at the stars as the rest of the world passed me by.

…

The next morning I spent tending to my garden and chopping up what firewood I had left. Frowning as I had only five logs to split, I knew I needed to go stock up A LOT before it started to get cool weather. With that, I grabbed my large bag to hold wood and my satchel and made my way into the forest. I spent quite some time gathering and hauling as much firewood as possible back and forth while filling my satchel with anything edible that would last through the winter. It was still early summer, but the previous harsh winter had almost done me in. I couldn't allow myself to be caught off-guard again.

As I hauled my final massive load of wood back, I stopped by the slow, steady part of the river for a moment to get a drink and splash my face. While the nights weren't too terribly warm, the daytime was still burning and humid, and so much physical exertion had me parched.

The cool water felt too amazing, and I couldn't resist getting in for a quick dip. I didn't bother taking off my clothes, as I probably needed to scrub them a little too. I hadn't actually scrubbed myself or my clothes the day before when I jumped into the massive pond, and I really needed to cool off, so it was a win-win for me. I spent a little time tending to myself in the water, scrubbing every bit of me and my clothes that I could reach. After about an hour, I was satisfied with my hygiene and finally emerged from the water, shaking and wringing as much water as I could from myself.

As I gathered up my bags once more to go about my business, I was startled when I heard a booming laughter echo through the trees from a long distance, the sounds joyous and elated. I only hesitated for a moment before I pulled my remaining knife from my belt and crouched into a defensive position. I hadn't encountered any other people in at least a couple of years, and those were just villagers that had been passing by. Slowly and quietly following the laughter, I stayed low to the ground and listened for anything else that might give me a hint as to who it was. My best guess was another villager was nearby, in which case I would just hide and let them leave the area on their own. I could handle any wild animal I might encounter, but other humans were… out of the question.

About a half-mile up-stream, I noticed one of the small clearings in the area had a tiny fire built in the center and the laughter died away. Crouching as low as possible, I crept silently towards the tree line, using the brush as cover so I wouldn't be spotted. In the middle of the clearing, next to the steadily growing fire, was a man I had never seen before. He was kind of tall, with wild white hair that faded into green tips (what kind of human had hair that color?), his red eyes were devious and had a glint of mischief in them, and he was wearing only a skirt of vines for clothing. He appeared to be talking to himself as he stoked the fire larger and larger, a bright smirk on his face.

As much as I wanted to retreat and put as much distance between him and me as possible, I found myself in complete awe of this human who clearly was not one of the villagers… He honestly looked like he didn't belong in this world at all. Instead of hiding away, I found myself intently observing the stranger for the next several hours.

It wasn't until much later, when the darkness had completely descended, that I finally made my way back home. When I had been observing him, I watched as he moved on from his fire and began beating rocks together, which I assumed he was making weapons with. It was totally bizarre that this guy suddenly showed up in my area of the forest, with absolutely no clothing, or shelter, or even weapons. Was he from another village? Was he shoved out too? Whatever the case was, I was much too intrigued by him to just ignore his presence. I was completely fascinated by the stranger, and by this "science" that he seemed to mention between each breath. So, instead of hiding away and pretending the other human didn't exist, I went about my usual routine during the day, but at night I would sneak my way to his campsite and observe him. His passion for his work was astounding, and I could honestly say that I had never seen someone with so much determination and drive. He continued to work step-by-step until he overcame each obstacle, and that was a form of diligence I never hoped to achieve.

As the sun set each day, I would quickly eat my dinner and take off towards where the stranger was set up and observe him until I began to tire, unless he went to sleep first. Most days, he spent a decent amount of time foraging for food. I watched him take some seawater and make salt with it, at least I assumed it was called salt based on his mutterings. He seasoned all of his food with it, which honestly looked rather mouthwatering. He obviously wasn't any type of hunter, but he made up for that by making clever and discreet traps. He didn't seem to have much trouble at all when it came to cooking anything.

He seemed to struggle a quite a bit with chopping wood, however. He seemed to understand pacing himself, though, which meant he made slow but consistent headway. As the days turned into weeks, he seemed to make quite a bit of progress in his survival. He eventually started building shelter for himself, which he put up on stilts as a "safety precaution" (the guy talked to himself A LOT). Once he was finished with that, then he began trying to make clay pots. After badly completing that task, he finally made himself some clothes, though the outfit was very strange to look at.

It was very weird that he was so bad at ALL of these things (except cooking). I learned to make clay pots before I was five years old, as did all the kids in the village. And yet, here was this grown man that acted like he had never done anything like it in his entire life. While he did work diligently until he got things right, it was clear he was working on a trial-and-error basis and not personal knowledge and experience. Who had done all of these things for him before? Was he some type of higher class villager who had these things done for him his whole life?

The questions I had about the stranger were practically endless.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was hanging low in the sky, which wasn't quite dark enough to go for my nightly spying on the stranger. But...

I really didn't want to wait.

He had finished his hut and looked to be clearing space for something else, and I was ashamed to admit to be slightly excited to see what it was. At first I thought the strange man was incompetent, seeing how much difficulty he had with basic life skills that are usually taught to everyone at a young age. However, after observing him as long as I did, I realized he was actually highly intelligent, much more so than myself or anyone I could have possibly ever known. He only seemed unskilled due to his lack of experience. However, despite his lack of experience, he would work on a task until he perfected it (in record time), which was admirable.

As he cleared the area and hauled more wood in for building, he mentioned the stone statues frequently, and he seemed excited over them. With his mentioning of the statues a few times, I started to get curious, which found me becoming more and more aware of them. They were everywhere, but I hadn't realized there was anything special about them because I had been looking at them my entire life. The stone woman on the edge of my plot was beginning to make me slightly uncomfortable, but only because I was starting to believe it may have been an actual human. I found myself observing her frequently, helping me notice the intricate detail in the stone, and the terror on her face as her arm shielded herself. _'What happened to you?' _It was a question I would probably only ever get an answer to if I continued to observe the strange man.

The sun still hadn't quite set, but I was getting much too anxious to sit and wait. With that, I decided to head over early to spy. It was starting to get chilly, which made me nervous. After wrapping myself in a couple of furs and tucking my lone knife in my belt, I took off into the trees. Being extra careful in my approach to his camp, since it was still daylight, I was a little disappointed that he hadn't made it back for the day yet. I carefully scanned the area, trying to find any indicators of if he'd be back soon, but I found none. Deciding to just wait until he returned, I knelt low in a thick bush and rested against an accompanying tree.

Closing my eyes, I listened to the sounds around me as the fall air filled my senses. There were one or two birds singing a few yards away through the trees, and I could hear a beehive idling nearby as well. Squirrels skittered through the leaves on the forest floor, and... there was someone yelling in the distance.

My eyes shot open as I jumped to my feet. Was that the stranger? Why was he yelling? He sounded like he was in trouble, and though I really didn't want him to know of my existence, I couldn't just let him die. But what if he wasn't dying? Based on what I had seen, the guy could be a little overdramatic, though usually it was about his own ego. He had quite a big ego for someone who struggled to make a clay pot. Either way, the least I could do was check it out.

The sun had almost completely set by that point, so I was able to move towards where the yelling came from a bit more freely. It turns out he wasn't too terribly far, only a five minute run to the East. I got closer by dodging from tree to tree to ensure I wouldn't be spotted, the freezing air slapping my face. I started hearing distressing human and inhuman sounds. I could see movement right on the other side of the trees from me, so I stopped and peeked over a bush to observe. Standing a short distance away from me was the stranger, who held himself in a defensive position facing… The lion from a few months before. It was missing its eye from where I had injured it, but it looked like it had targeted the strange man this time. I could hear the man talking lowly to the lion (or probably to himself, it was hard to say), but I couldn't quite make out what he was saying. The lion looked ready to attack, and there was a hint of panic on the man's face. He held a roughly made spear ahead of himself, but it was clear that he wasn't going to win that battle. The two stared at each other for a long moment, with the lion looking hungry and the man baring clenched teeth.

Then the lion pounced.

I didn't even think about it, though I really probably should have. I leapt from my position low to the ground, jumping over the bushes separating us and putting myself between the man and the lion. Holding up my knife defensively, I braced myself as the lion landed on me instead. Watching its giant paws swipe downwards, I ducked beneath them and thrust my knife upwards into its chest with a yell, trying my best to plunge the weapon as deep as possible. The weapon hit its mark, but my grip was loose and I lost my hold. The weapon stayed in the beast's chest, but all the damage seemed to do was anger the creature more. Before I could recover my grip on the hilt, the beast's massive claws came around for another swipe, forcing me to dodge from underneath it and put distance between us, with me guarding the man. While I was uncertain of his ability to fight, I felt like I needed to help since he looked a bit distressed.

The lion now had its attention fully turned to me, and I was beginning to think it might have remembered who I was by the way it was watching me. The rough scar across its eye looked pretty bad, and I felt remorse for harming the creature. However, we were in a kill-or-be-killed situation. Only the strongest survived. I looked around the area quickly trying to find something to help when my eyes landed on the spear held limply in the stranger's hands. The stranger seemed frozen in place, watching what was happening intently with incredulous eyes. He needed to snap out of it if he wanted to live at all.

"Hey!" I called, which effectively grabbed his attention. He seemed to realize I was speaking to him and raised an eyebrow at me. "Your spear!"

Understanding dawned in his eyes, and he didn't waste any time tossing the weapon to me. I snatched it from the air and got into a defensive stance once more. While I initially thought the spear was poorly made, after holding it I realized it was actually quite sturdy. The wood of the staff was stronger than what I knew of, and the spear tip looked to be made of some type of shinier stone. The spear tip was held on by thick strips of well-treated leather, ensuring it wouldn't break off in battle. All in all, the spear was quite adequate, maybe even better than my own. Holding it in front of me, I faced down the lion once more, steadily circling to the left side while never breaking eye contact.

I would have had a much better chance of winning if I could have attacked it from above, but it was too late for that. I knew this lion wasn't going to take its remaining eye off of me until one of us was dead. With one last slow, steady breath, I lunged forward with the spear at the ready. Without much regard to hurting itself, the lion slapped the spear's tip down, smacking it to the ground with a clatter. Using this distraction, I reached forward quickly and grabbed my knife still hanging from the animal's chest. The lion out a gruff rumble from pain as I dodged backwards once more, snatching up the spear in the same motion.

The lion didn't take but a moment to pursue, and then the chase was on once more. Unfortunately for me, there were no convenient cliffs nearby that I could toss myself from (and certainly none with a convenient pool of water at the bottom), so my best option was to get to higher ground that would give me the advantage. I remembered that there was a large copse of trees nearby, and they were all loaded with vines. Changing direction, I took off for those trees, which I could see up ahead after only a moment. I tucked my knife into my belt quickly to free up a hand and pushed myself faster. My heart sunk when I saw how many roots riddled the ground, which would make my next move much more difficult than I wanted it to be. The uneven ground meant greater chances of slipping.

Well, it was a little too late for it at that point. Putting on a burst of speed, I launched myself into the trees with the lion right on my heels. Snatching a vine, I hoisted myself up and propelled myself through the air, soaring overhead of the lion as it made a lunge for me. Spear at the ready, I was preparing to jump down when the vine suddenly snapped. A small yelp escaped me as I plummeted to the ground, slamming into the cluster of protruding roots below and smacking my head on one. A sharp, stabbing pain in my side knocked the breath from me, and terror gripped me as I tried to bring my senses back after the impact. The lion was already almost of top of me, and my hands only fumbled around blindly beside me in search for the spear. The lion's shadow slowly covered me, and I braced myself for what was going to happen next.

"Hey! Shield your face and move!"

A deep voice distracted the huge cat, and when I looked, there stood the stranger with a determined look on his face. Without hesitation, I did as he said, bringing both arms over my face as I rolled to the side. In that same moment, the man threw his arm out and released some type of powder, getting it right into the lion's remaining eye. The creature immediately cried out in pain, almost collapsing as it tried to do something about the substance just thrown at him. Knowing that was my chance, I looked around quickly and spotted the spear just a few inches out of my reach. Gritting my teeth through the pain in my side and head, I reached over and grabbed the weapon. Swinging it around, I was suddenly caught off guard by the creature snagging my leg with its huge paws. Its claws sank deeply into my leg as it pulled me beneath it. I cried out as it suddenly bit down on my hip, but at that moment I sunk the spear into the animal's chest, putting every ounce of strength I had into ensuring I didn't make the same mistake I had before. The beast let go and emitted a low groan before collapsing on top of me, finally taking its last breath. Still pushing on the weapon, I lifted a shoulder to help shove the giant creature from atop me.

Unfortunately, that had been the last dregs of my consciousness, so the world went black

...

As I floated in and out of consciousness, I seemed to struggle with wanting to actually wake up. There was a terrible pain in my side and hip, and my head throbbed something fierce. My legs felt like they were on fire as well. I'd have much rather just stayed unconscious, completely unaware of the pain wracking my body. However, it wasn't too much longer that the pain finally began to subside a bit, which gave me more clarity about what was happening.

_'So nice... So warm... There's not so much pain... Pain... I was in so much pain... because of...'_

As soon as I thought it, my eyes snapped open. I was lying flat on a makeshift bed inside a hut, but it wasn't my own. The walls were bare save for a few shelves, which held multiple clay jars and, oddly enough, petrified swallows. The room was only lit with a small fire, but I didn't have time to focus on anything else as a voice startled me from my observations.

"Papaver somniferum. It's the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are derived. It is a very effective pain killer, even with the worst of injuries. You'll feel a little loopy, but you won't be in much pain at all as long as you stay still. It's a good thing I found a field of them just a few days ago."

Jerking my head up to the sound of the voice, I immediately regretted my decision as a bolt of blinding agony shot across my skull. A small whimper escape my lips, which made me bite down on my tongue. I was in some random stranger's home while I was incapacitated. I didn't need to show weakness. Forcing my eyes open, I focused them on the man where he sat next to a small, roughly made table as he looked at me with a smirk. I _couldn't_ show weakness. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to speak but the words got stuck. My throat was parched, and it felt like I had been holding sand in my mouth.

"Drink this," he said, holding out a bowl to me. "You're probably dehydrated, and the pain medicine can cause cotton mouth."

I eyed him warily, trying to sit up so I could put my back against the wall. My body felt fuzzy, and my head felt like it was floating in water. The guy quirked an eyebrow at me, and held the bowl towards me a bit more pointedly.

"I wouldn't move too much if I were you," he said as I relented and used a shaky hand to gently take the bowl from him. "You fell on your knife, and it almost pierced your liver. You also hit your head pretty hard, and you probably have a concussion. You had a couple of lacerations on your legs from the lion's claws. He also tried to take a chunk of your hip. I managed to patch you up, but I'm limited with my resources so it's not the best work. I wouldn't suggest getting up for a while."

My heart clenched in my chest in fear, but my throat was so dry it hurt. I figured if the guy was going to hurt me in any way, he would have done so by then. So, carefully, I tilted the bowl to my lips and let the cool liquid pour into my mouth. It was refreshing, and immediately made me feel a little better. I drained the bowl in one go, but as soon as I was done, I gave the stranger another wary look.

"Who are you?"

With a lopsided smirk, he responded, "The name's Senku." Taking the bowl from me, he dipped it into the jug on the table to refill it and handed it back. This time, I didn't hesitate to accept it. "But enough about me, I'm way more interested in who _you_ are. A young woman with pretty impressive fighting skills in a stone world where I thought I was the only one alive. Tell me, when did you wake up? How long have you been living in this stone world? I find it fascinating that you've adapted so well - "

He was on a tangent like I had seen many times before while watching him. Cutting him off, I said, "Whoa - what are you talking about? Stone world? Adapted? I've been here my whole life, you big weirdo. Where else would I be from?"

His eyebrows shot up, "Ah, I see! Then you must be a descendant of someone who was de-petrified. Interesting. Anyways, we'll talk more on that later. For now, I just want to know how long you have been watching me."

I felt my heart freeze in my chest. "I... I wasn't..."

"It's okay," he reassured. "I'm just curious. I noticed footprints in the mud around the perimeter one day after it rained - "

_'Damn, I knew I shouldn't have gone that day...'_

" - But I knew you weren't dangerous. Well, actually you _are_ dangerous, very dangerous from what I saw, but that also means if you wanted to kill me you would have done so by now. As far as fighting goes, it's 10 billion percent obvious that you could easily overpower me. I'm a scientist, not a brawler."

"Scientist?" The question slipped out before I could stop myself from forming the word.

"Don't avoid the question, but yeah. I'm a scientist," he said with a sly smirk, one hand reaching up to his neck as he cracked it from side to side. Smiling wider, he continued, "My sole purpose in this world is to make sense of everything, and to use science to propel this stone world back to its former glory. Now answer my question. I'd like to know just how weak my defenses are."

"Uhum," I said, breaking eye contact as my cheeks burned a little. "A few months, maybe?"

"Damn," he huffed, "and I thought for sure the chimes would work."

"They probably do... I just happened to watch you set them." I wasn't sure if what I was saying was any consolation. I honestly wondered why I was trying to offer him anything at all. What it all boiled down to was that he was a strange man I had found in the forest, I saved his life, he saved mine, and we were even. I needed to be on my way out, not... fraternizing. Dragging myself up to a sitting position, I gritted my teeth against the pain as I started the process of getting to my feet. "I... I should be going..." In that same moment, a flash of pain rippled from my side, making me gasp aloud and slump back into the pallet.

"I told you moving wouldn't be a great idea," he said, his former smile gone, dwindled down into the slightest of smirks. "Why don't you just stay put for now? I have some roasted mushrooms here you should eat. Someone with a concussion needs lots of food, water, and rest. Though I'll have to wake you up every now and then to ensure there's no permanent damage."

"I'm fine," I said, my stomach twisting in knots from the anxiety. I needed to get away, but I really didn't have a way to. My body was clearly out of commission, and from what I could tell, I was pretty much dressed in only leaf bandages. "I'll just... I'll just wait until morning - "

"I doubt you'll be any better by morning. It's going to take you a couple of days to regain your strength. However, I won't stop you if that's what you truly wanna do." Standing from his stool, he stretched out his arms with a yawn. "Either way, go ahead and get some rest now. I'll check on you in a little while to make sure you don't slip into a coma."

_'Coma?'_ I panicked a little on the inside. Maybe he was right. It was probably for the best if I let my body recover a bit before trying to make the trek all the way back to my hut. So far, I at least trusted this Senku man to not attack me.

While I thought over my options, he offered me a stick with roasted mushrooms impaled on it. Logic said it was fine, but I couldn't shake my nerves. Taking the kebab from him, I munched on the mushrooms. When I did, my eyes widened slightly at the incredible flavor that I was suddenly experiencing. It wasn't something I ever remembered tasting before, but it was delicious.

"You like it? I seasoned them with salt I extracted from seawater." Senku sounded pretty proud of himself.

"Yeah, I uh... I watched you make it..." I felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment once more as I avoided eye contact.

"Oh, really? While I'm curious as to exactly what all you watched me do, I guess we'll have to discuss that at a later date. It's time for me to get my own rest. It'll be morning soon, so I'll check on you in a little while."

I could only nod gently at him.

As he curled up in another blanket in the opposite corner, he paused. "Oh, and one more thing. I don't believe you told me your name."

"Oh, sorry. My name is Kohaku."

...

Only a couple hours later, Senku woke me up as promised, making sure I didn't slip into a coma or die in my sleep. When he did, he administered some more of the pain medicine for which I was grateful. My head hurt very much, and the rest of my body felt like it had been chewed up completely. From there, we followed the same routine every couple of hours, well past when the sun rose.

Senku was up and about not long after the sun, building up the fire and roasting more mushrooms on it. I awoke to a different kind of smell, though, one much more enticing than the mushrooms. I let the scent drag me to the surface of consciousness, though my body was reluctant because of the pain. I couldn't feel it if I stayed asleep, but Senku had been right. As long as I didn't move too much, the pain medicine seemed to get rid of the majority of pain. I felt a bit light-headed, and despite the chill in the air, I felt what I could only describe as warm and fuzzy. Definitely not myself, but Senku did say the medicine would make me feel out of it.

Finally opening my eyes, my gaze immediately landed on Senku. He was standing next to the fire watching as something sizzled on a roasting stick.

"Is... That meat?" I questioned.

"Yeah. Mushrooms are extremely low in calories, so while they have all the nutritional value a person could need, the calories aren't enough to sustain someone for long. You need to supplement the mushrooms every now and then with a meat or grain." Turning his head to look at me, I saw he had a stick in his mouth that he was chewing on. "Though, this meat isn't from my stores. I had a rabbit in one of my traps this morning and decided to go ahead and use it." He smirked at me, turning the meat on the stick.

I continued to stare at him for a moment until I finally asked, "What are you chewing on?"

At my question, he raised an eyebrow and he removed it from his mouth and show the frayed end to me. "A twig from Salvadora Persica."

I stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to explain. When he didn't, I said, "And you're chewing on it because...?"

Cocking his head to the side, he gave me an odd look before answering. "3,700 years ago, good oral hygiene was essential since most of humanity's teeth was ruined by excessive sugar and processed food. It's more important now than ever that I keep up my oral health, since a simple infection could kill me. Long before my time, people used twigs from trees, namely the Salvadora Persica, to chew on to brush their teeth. Kept them clean and healthy."

_'What? Is this something I should know? Is that even true?'_

"W-wait, is an infection something I should be concerned about? I don't think I've ever 'brushed my teeth'." An infection didn't sound great, and I had already lived through too much just to get taken down by an illness like my mother and sister.

"Heh, not necessarily," he said, turning and setting the stick down on the table before taking the sizzling meat from the fire. "While it never hurts to brush, you're not from my time. You haven't been exposed to the processed foods, carbonated sodas, and sweets my generation was raised on, and I'm sure your natural diet is high in fiber and nutrients. You'll be just fine either way."

"Where did you come from?" The question slipped out before I could stop myself. He kept mentioning being from some other place, and I had been wondering where since the first day I saw him.

In the middle of putting the meat in a bowl, the guy froze for a second before his lip quirked up in a smile. "Well, that's a loaded question, I suppose. I guess I could tell you a little story, if you don't plan on leaving soon."

I bit my lip and looked down at my covered body. While I had blankets covering me, I knew my body beneath was riddled with bandaging leaves. Experimentally, I tried to move a bit. When that didn't cause too much discomfort, I moved on to trying to sit up. As soon as the muscles in my torso tensed, agony coursed through me, radiating outward from my wound in my side all the way to my throbbing head. Trying to hold in my groan, a I let out a small puff of air as I relaxed back once more. There was no way I could make it back to my hut on my own, and I wasn't about to have this Senku guy help me and find out where I lived.

"Well, there's my answer," he said with an air of haughtiness.

And for the next hour or so, as we both ate and relaxed, he explained what had happened. How, 3,700 years prior, all of humanity enjoyed the luxuries of modern technology. He spoke of vehicles, robots, massive cities of light, technology beyond my wildest imagination, and the green light. The one that turned all of humanity into stone. And from that day, he had spent 3,700 years in a petrified state, until he somehow managed to break free from the effects of the green light.

My chest hurt, and it wasn't from my injuries. 7 billion people had their lives frozen for thousands of years, and Senku was the only person to break free. Having everyone you know and love suddenly be taken from you, leaving you all alone in the world, must have been horrible. I understood the feeling, as much as I wish I didn't.

"Don't go crying on me, now," he said, bringing me back to the present. When I looked at him, he had his usual smirk, though his brow was drawn together a bit more than usual.

Realizing that my eyes had begun to tear up a little, I hid my face to rub at them briefly and clear them. "I'm not. It just sounds tragic. Though, there is one thing that doesn't make sense." When Senku cocked his head at me, I said, "Why am I here? If everyone was turned to stone, then how am I still here? Or anyone else in the village?"

"Village?" he asked, his eyes brightening as he lifted his head in interest.

"Uh, yeah. Did you think I was the only other person?" Smiling, I tried to suppress a laugh to keep my head from throbbing. "There's a whole village, probably around forty people."

"Very intriguing," he said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And where is this village?"

"A few miles South of here," I said without thinking_. 'Damn. I shouldn't have said that._'

"So you traveled all that way to spy on me? I feel honored." He gave me a devious smirk, to which my face reddened slightly.

"N-no," I reassured, unsuccessfully trying to not sound nervous. "I don't live in the village."

"Oh?" he said curiously, tilting his head to the side.

"Yeah. But I'm not gonna talk about it," I said shortly, avoiding his gaze by looking at the ceiling. Luckily, he seemed to catch the hint and promptly continued.

"A whole village of primitives in a world where the entire population was supposed to be turned to stone? It sounds like I've got some research to do." Baring his teeth in a smile, he added, "It's time to get excited."


	3. Chapter 3

After our little chat, Senku left to take care of some things, which left me alone for a while to rest. He was gone for pretty much the rest of the day, not like I really would have noticed. The medicine he gave me for pain had me sleeping pretty well for the most part, which he said was also an essential part to the healing process. But it also made me uncomfortable to be unconscious in unfamiliar surroundings, so I was constantly warring with myself over whether to sleep or not. I finally woke up a decent bit close to nightfall, when the sun was burning a deep orange and pink color. I couldn't just lie down anymore, so while I waited for Senku to get back, I slowly but steadily sat myself up enough to prop my back against the wall.

As long as I was really careful, and moved at a snail's pace, I could overcome the pain that the medicine didn't dull and remain sitting up. At the very least, I didn't feel as vulnerable as I did while lying down. In my new position, I could actually see the outside more through the open doorway. As I sat there and stared out into the clearing, I suddenly heard a branch snap and there was movement. On instinct I tensed up, but relaxed a little as I saw green hair emerging from the trees.

After stopping briefly for a moment to drop his satchel next to his food stock, Senku carefully carried a large pot up the ladder into the hut. When he noticed me sitting up and awake, he smiled at me briefly as he set the pot on his table. "Just won't stay down, huh? I shouldn't be surprised. A lioness never shows weakness."

Narrowing my eyes, I growled, "I am _not _a lion."

"Fine, a gorilla then."

"I'm not a gorilla either! Jeez, were all humans as rude as you 3,700 years ago?" I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest, being mindful of the pressure on my side.

At my response, Senku narrowed his eyes slightly before returning his expression back to his normal smirk. "Yep. Though most would have at least tried to spare your feelings. I, on the other hand, won't. It's illogical and a waste of time."

"Clearly," I said shortly, frowning. My head was starting to throb a bit more, and I knew I would need to lay back down again soon. Looking out the door into the clearing, I finally noticed the pelt of the lion hung up for treating. As I stared at it, a question came to mind that I had been wondering since the most recent attack. Looking at Senku once more, I asked, "So, what was that powder you threw in the lion's face?"

Not taking his eyes away from the jar of liquid he had begun to stir, he replied, "Heh, it's my homemade version of pepper spray, which burns like hell. Dried and crushed some capsicum annuum with a little armoracia rusticana root, which we used to make wasabi 3,700 years ago. I'm not much of a fighter, but I don't need to be with the power of science on my side."

It seemed his creepy grin was back, which I noticed he did whenever he spoke about something that particularly excited him. Rolling my eyes, I said, "So, the powder burned its eye?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, covering the jar and walking to the exit. "While it doesn't do any real damage, the pain is enough to distract any animal for a few seconds. Be glad you covered your face when I said to, or else you'd have burning eyes on top of the rest of your injuries." With that, he disappeared out the doorway and down the ladder. While he did, he continued talking. "Pepper spray was always a common animal deterrent back in my era, but I'm lacking the materials for an actual spray, so a powder will have to do for now."

If I were honest, this 'science' that he spoke so fondly of was beginning to sound more and more interesting. But they had a different word for it back at the village.

"So it's sorcery," I said bluntly, my eyebrow raising slightly.

After a moment of silence, Senku's head popped over the edge of the doorway as he ascended the ladder. "Absolutely not, but I guess I can see why someone like you would think that."

Narrowing my eyes, I shot him a look. "What do you mean, 'someone like you'?"

Giving an exasperated sigh, Senku pulled himself up the rest of the ladder and stepped inside, placing a hand on his forehead. "I mean, someone with no concept of real scientific technology. You've never been exposed to it before so it's natural to think that something you can't explain would be paranormal. Back even before my time, there were people who were killed for performing sorcery when all they did was practice science. Science is a very real, explainable phenomenon, it just takes patience to truly understand it."

"Incredible…" I breathed. The words were out of my mouth before I could even think about. Slapping my hand over my mouth in horror (ignoring the throb in my head the motion made), my eyes narrowed as I backtracked, putting on a bored expression. "I-I mean, it's pretty impressive, I guess."

"Yeah," he said with a hint of laughter as he eyed me for a moment. "It really is." With that, he took the food he had gathered from outside and began tossing everything into a pot he had placed over the fire. I watched as he added some of his salt, as well as a pinch of a different powder. When he noticed me give a curious look, he said, "It's the same powder from earlier. It also doubles as some tasty spice you can add to food."

"Oh…" The more and more I learned from this man, the more I realized just how smart he actually was. To wake up, 3,700 years in the future, with all the luxuries he had described gone, and he was able to just… _use_ this science to stay alive. It was honestly incredible. I wasn't about to tell him that though. It seemed like he needed someone to keep him grounded before his inflated ego made him float away. "So… What are your plans now? You look like you have everything you need to survive, but you don't seem like the type to just exist and survive."

"You're 10 billion percent correct," he said with a cocky smile. "Now that I've gathered and made all the basic needs for survival, it's time for me to start working on reviving others. While this village you mentioned sounds like the manpower I need, it's probably best that I recover some allies first before trying to gain their trust."

"Manpower?"

"Yes," he said, briefly looking away from his task to observe out the window. "Surviving takes all of my time, which leaves almost no room for scientific advancement. If I want to rebuild humanity as it once was, I'm going to need help. And this - " he said with a smirk, lightly smacking the jar he had been stirring before " – is what's going to get me that help."

I began to respond, trying to say that he could count me in. I could be his ally. But the words were stuck behind fear. _'I can't get that close to him.' _A particularly nasty throb of pain stabbed me in the side, to which I grimaced and closed my eyes, bringing a hand to rest over the banana leaf covering my wound. I was beginning to feel a bit light-headed as well.

This didn't go unnoticed by him. "You should probably lie back down. You lost a decent amount of blood fighting that lion. You feel weak if you sit up for too long, right?"

Throwing the briefest glare his way, I gently adjusted my position until I was lying flat once more. The pain was slowly but steadily intensifying again, which felt less than great. Pulling my hand from the bandages at my side, I noticed there was some blood smeared on my fingertips.

When I glanced to Senku, he had an eyebrow raised at me. Muttering, mostly to himself, he said, "It's probably time to replace your bandaging." With that, he left the pot to stew and grabbed two jars with some banana leaves from a shelf before kneeling next to me.

The moment he got within a couple feet of me, I felt my skin begin to crawl and anxiety rise in my chest. Sucking in a sharp breath, I couldn't help but tense up, which hurt even more. I cursed myself for visibly reacting, but it was too late. Senku noticed and gave me a cautious look, his head slightly cocked to the side. With trepidation, he said slowly, "You realize I'm not gonna hurt you, right? I'd be crazy to try and hurt someone who could probably fold me into a human pretzel."

"I'm… I didn't…" I stuttered. It wasn't like I expected him to attack me, but I still didn't know him very well and I had issues with proximity to _any_ human beings. My reaction was natural, forged by my past and several years of isolation. "I know that," I snapped, steeling myself. The less talking, the quicker he could finish.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "… Right…" Opening one jar, which I recognized as the one that contained the medicine, he shook some of the powder onto a leaf before handing it to me. I tipped the powder into my mouth, scrunching my face up at the bitter taste as he went to work.

He went for the wound on my side first. Pulling the blanket covering me back, I was hyper-aware that I was only covered by my underwear and leaves. I was also suddenly realizing that this man had to have undressed me in the first place to treat my wounds while I was unconscious. Shutting my eyes tightly as my cheeks burned in mortification, I felt the discomfort as he carefully peeled back the large leaf. He paused for a moment before saying, "Well, it looks okay. I don't see any signs of infection." I jerked a little when I felt a wet cloth brush over the area, wiping away the blood and grime that I was sure was there.

While it was a relief that he didn't see any signs of infection, I still couldn't bring myself to open my eyes… Until I felt something cold and sticky touch the wound. "Whoa!" I huffed, my eyes shooting open as a chill ran up my spine.

"Relax," he assured me. "Just a little pine sap. It has antibacterial properties, and the consistency is good for holding the bandaging in place."

He spread the sap over the wound with his fingers, gently caressing the area until it was effectively covered. Satisfied, he took a leaf and placed it over the wound, holding it there for a moment to make sure it stuck. The pain was finally easing away once more, and my body was starting to feel fuzzy again so I knew the pain medicine was starting to work. When he was done with the wound on my side, which he expressed was his largest concern, he then moved on to the smaller ones. He worked fairly quickly, efficiently redressing each injury in mere moments.

Once, he was done with everything else, he said, "Okay, now I'm going to examine your head. You currently rank an A on the APVU scale, and while I don't know how you act on a normal basis, I'm guessing your cognitive processing is back to normal." He lifted my head gently and turned it in examination. Seeming satisfied, he grabbed the small bowl of oil on the table, lit the wick on the fire, and held the burning bowl close to my face. He only watched my eyes for a moment before saying, "Your pupils seem to be dilating properly as well. All in all, you'll live, it's just going to take some time for you to heal."

With that, he placed the bowl back on the table and pulled my blanket back up to cover me. I felt the tightness in my chest ease a bit, and even more so when he rose to his feet and disposed of the soiled leaves, giving me space once more.

Everything was getting fuzzier by the moment, so I knew sleep would take me soon. As I relaxed back, I let the fog overtake me and drifted into an easy sleep, a mumbled, "Thank you…" escaping my lips.

…

About an hour later, Senku woke me to eat some stew, but I fell right back asleep as soon as my bowl was empty and I stayed asleep until the early morning hours. It was still quite dark when I opened my eyes, and Senku was asleep in the opposite corner from me, his breathing slow and steady. Looking at the firelight reflecting off his face, I acknowledged that he was a very attractive man, despite his strange hair and the literal cracks around his eyes. When he was awake, his red eyes looked almost demonic, but they suited him well for some reason, and the cracks made his expressions even more bold.

Frowning at my line of thought, I pushed past those idle musings and looked around the fire-lit room. Everything was quiet and calm, albeit a bit cold. I honestly wanted to know more about Senku, the era he was from, and basically everything about him. But only because I had never met anyone like him. His perseverance was unmatched, and he didn't seem to care about his odds of success at all. He knew if he worked diligently, he could overcome anything, odds be damned. I had only actually known the guy for a couple of days, but after watching him for months and hearing his story, I felt like I had known him for several lifetimes. Why did he seem so familiar to me? I felt the pain from my injuries begin to creep back, but this time I was determined to ignore it as I pondered over everything.

I stayed in my thoughts until the sun rose, mulling over every detail of everything that had happened the previous couple of days. Why did I jump between him and that lion? I was clearly paying for it, even though I won the fight. It was stupid on my part, risking myself for a stranger and going off-course as I had. I was an exiled villager. I wasn't supposed to interact with anyone and live my life in solitude. _'You're not supposed to interact with anyone from the village,' _I reminded myself. Senku wasn't from the village. He barely even seemed like he was from this planet.

Regardless, having anything to do with me was dangerous for him. If he did eventually approach the village, and they knew he was associated with me, they would bar him from the village if they didn't try to kill him first. I wasn't going to give him any details about my exile, but the least I could do was warn him that it's best he pretended I didn't exist.

With my decision in place, I found it difficult to drift back to sleep.

…

"Thank you for treating my wounds. I probably wouldn't be alive if you hadn't."

Senku and I were standing at the edge of his site, with me back in my normal clothes ready to head out.

"Probably, but I wouldn't be alive either if you hadn't saved me. So we'll call it even." His voice was neutral, though he maintained the suave grin that seemed to be his default expression. That, or he truly was that confident in everything around him. "I'm only gonna say this once more, but you should probably stick around at least another day. My guess is that you're still hurting pretty bad, huh?"

_'Yes.´ _

"I'll be fine," I responded, squashing down my inner monologue. "I'm made of a lot stronger stuff than you're probably used to. I'll be okay."

"Alright. I definitely could use the extra manpower if you decided to stick around though. A gorilla like you would make an excellent ally."

I was starting to feel a little sad about leaving, but his comment terminated those feelings pretty quickly. "Ya know, I think I actually preferred 'lioness'. Anyways, I can't stick around, especially if you plan to involve the village. They probably wouldn't like knowing that you've associated with me. I wouldn't mention me to them if I was you."

"Oh? And why's that?" He quirked an eyebrow up at me, his curious expression barely masking excitement.

Rolling my eyes, I said, "Because I was exiled. Anyone who is exiled can no longer interact with anyone in the village, or the penalty is death. While you're not a villager, they'll probably be a lot more hostile towards you if they knew about you associating with me."

"Jeez," he said, his eyes widening a bit. "A bit harsh, don't you think? What the hell did you do?"

"That's none of your business," I stated simply, averting my gaze. "I need to be going. Thank you, again, Senku."

Resting his arms behind his head, he said in a lazy tone, "Don't mention it." Reaching to his belt, he detached a couple pouches and handed it to me. "Take some of this pain medicine and pine sap. You might still need it. Do you want the lion pelt as well?"

Glancing to the hanging lion skin, I gently shook my head. "No, I have enough furs. You'll probably need it more than me."

"Alright," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Then I guess this is goodbye. Stay safe, lioness."

"Good luck with your science, Senku," I said earnestly. ""I'm sure you're going to do great things." With one last brief smile, I turned on my heel and finally hobbled my way back home.


	4. Chapter 4

The next year of solitude was grueling.

When I first returned home, I laid in my bed for three extra days to finish healing. I was a lot worse off than I had let on, but I couldn't show that kind of weakness. It was absolute murder on my entire body just trying to light my fire, but I never let that stop me. I did end up using a little more of the pain medicine, and I had to redress the wound on my side with the sap at least once, but all in all I was eventually good to go.

And so I did. I went about my normal life, scavenging, hunting, surviving, for the next year. It took a lot of effort to forget about the strange man and his science, and I often thought about him when I found myself traveling near his domicile. I never returned to watch him, knowing that doing so would only put him at risk. But I thought about it multiple times. Every time I saw a stone statue, a small chill would race up my spine, and I wondered if Senku had ever been successful in de-petrifying anyone. The statue at the edge of my clearing had been moved as soon I was physically able to move it, because I was uncomfortable knowing it was a real person just standing there, staring in horror.

After almost twelve full months had passed, I was back in top shape and fighting for my life as always. While I had rid the forest of the king of the jungle (well, at least one of them anyways), there seemed to be a lot of other beasts vying for the position. The previous month, I had taken down a black bear that decided to just walk right inside my hut after destroying my garden.

And now, I was up in a tree, knives clutched tightly in my fists as I looked down on the five wolves circling beneath. Not even twenty minutes prior I had just killed a deer, but a wolf wandered up and seemed to think I killed it for him. When I tried scaring it off, it bolted for some bushes and reemerged with four other members of its pack. And that's the short story of how I found myself in a tree.

Crouching on the branch high above the beasts, I looked around frantically for something I could do to get away. I couldn't risk running back home, as I didn't want my scent to lead them somewhere that they could kill me in my sleep later. I could see a cave off in the distance, but there probably wasn't anything in there that could help me, and I couldn't risk checking it out and getting cornered. I only had one other option, which I wasn't very fond nor sure of. A couple hundred yards down-river, there was a massive pit I had dug to trap larger wildlife. I hadn't covered it yet, and it wasn't quite as deep as I would like, but it was probably my best option at that point.

The branch I was perched on was spread out a decent length, so I took off running across it and leapt to the ground. I landed in a roll to keep momentum, going full speed as soon as I was upright once more. I turned west, heading towards the river so I could follow the bank downstream. The pack was right on my heels, and I felt the breeze on my leg as one tried to take a snap at me.

"Dammit," I huffed, trying to control my breathing as I ran up beside the river and started following it. I swerved left and right, dodging rocks and plant life to try and slow down my pursuers. The river was running faster than usual, but it was unsurprising since it had recently rained. The level of the water was very high, and a person or animal could easily get dragged in. Pushing myself faster, I jumped over a fallen log and twisted to turn left. Only a few more yards.

A snarl sounded really close behind me, but I was _almost there_. I jerked an elbow back, and when I felt it connect with fur, I was glad I did. Glancing behind me, I saw that elbowing the wolf definitely slowed it down as it lagged behind the others. Jerking my head facing forward so I could look up ahead, I could suddenly see the pit. It would be enough for the moment. Once there was only a couple more feet, I crouched and jumped as hard as I could. I managed to get both hands to grab a lower-hanging branch, swinging my feet up in front as I heard the wolves yelp. I held on as long as I could, not daring to look below me as I used all of my strength to hold myself up. There were snarls and growls from the vicious creatures below me, and all I could do was hope they really were trapped.

Using one last burst of energy, I started to pull myself up onto the branch so I could observe my next move. Unfortunately, just as I used my arms to lift myself up, I heard the branch groan in near-death. My heart froze in my chest at the sound, and before I could even think about making a different move, the branch snapped. I dropped to the ground with a solid thud, landing on my right arm harshly which made me grunt aloud. Snapping my head up, relief flooded through me when I saw that all five wolves had effectively fallen for my trap. The animals snarled and howled as they tried to scramble up the side of the pit, but I had been digging that pit for animals much larger than they were, so it worked well enough to contain them for the time being.

Lying flat on my back, I let out a relieved sigh as I closed my eyes for a moment. That chase had really taken it out of me, so I needed a moment to try and regain my breath. As I heaved air in and out of my lungs, I cringed at the noise the wolves were making in the pit next to me. They were angry, and definitely out for blood as they made brutal sounds. I could hear their claws scraping against the rocks lining the pit as the struggled to free themselves, and I almost let out a small laugh at my luck.

And then I heard a growl directly in my ear. My eyes snapped open, my grip tightening on my weapons as I rolled forward onto my feet in one fluid motion and crouching in a defensive position. Standing before me was one of the wolves. My guess was that it had used one of its packmates as a springboard and managed to free itself from the pit. However, it didn't really give me time to mull that over as it made an immediate lunge for me. Throwing one of my knives up in front of me with my left arm, the beast's fangs clamped down over the blade instead of my flesh at the last moment. The force of it knocked me backwards, landing flat on my back with my knife still holding it back. Swinging my injured arm around with my other knife, I jammed the blade into the creature's head, the sound of it a bit sickening. My injury screamed but I couldn't worry about that.

The wolf's body slumped, its eyes losing life and blood immediately trickling from where my knife was lodged. Shoving the thing off me, I didn't waste any time yanking the blade from its skull and taking off running. I didn't want to stick around to see if anymore wolves managed to piggy-back their way out of the hole. My right arm hurt a good amount, and the force I used to stab the wolf didn't help it at all. Holding it to myself to keep movement to a minimum, I headed on home quickly.

It was dark by the time I arrived, and the air was becoming more and more frigid by the moment. I was excited to get my fire going, because while my furs worked well against the cold, fire worked better at night at that time of year. Dropping my satchel by the door as I always did, I stumbled inside, ready to change out of the bloody furs into some that were a bit more clean. As I lifted my head once I walked through the doorway, I felt my entire body freeze in place. Standing in my hut, amidst my destroyed and looted possessions, was four hulking men. They each had markings, cracks, like Senku had, but all of them very much looked like they weren't around to play nice.

I could face down the largest beast in the forest if I had to. Lions, bears, wolves, tigers – none of them intimidated me. But humans… Humans were one thing I couldn't take head on. My entire body trembled in fear as I stood as still as a statue. The men were all looking at me menacingly, and it was clear that they didn't have good intentions. The one man with a crack straight down the center of his face spoke first.

"Well, what do we have here?" he sneered, taking a step closer to me. "Looks like we found a stray villager."

The other three men each nodded and murmured in agreement.

"Should we take her hostage?" another man asked, still holding one of my pelts in his hand. "We might can use her to get the village to surrender."

My chest felt tight, and my breathing was shallow. _'Hostage? But the village doesn't care about me! They have no use for me!'_

I tried to relay that to them, to let them know that anything to do with me would get them nowhere with the village, but I couldn't get any words to form on my tongue. My brain was screaming at me to defend myself, but I still couldn't move. I needed to do something, and quick.

"Not a bad idea," the first guy said. Without any hesitation, the man lunged for me.

I was honestly surprised at how fast I moved in response. I didn't tell my body to run, but it tried to anyways as I darted out the door. Unfortunately, I barely made it five feet past the doorway before I felt two massive hands snatch both arms from behind. My momentum caused my feet to sweep from under me, and I was suddenly only being held up very painfully by my arms. A sharp scream escaped my lips before I could stop it, but my already injured arm felt like it was being crushed by the giant's iron grip. Regardless, I continued to struggle against the hold. All fighting instinct was gone, and all I could focus on was _escaping_. I strained, twisted, turned, everything possible to get out of the man's grip and run away. I didn't care if they destroyed my house or my garden or the village or any of it. I just needed to get away by any means possible.

So I sunk my teeth into the hand holding my left arm. With a loud yelp, the man withdrew and dropped me, but only a second later he lashed out a fist. It connected very solidly with my cheek, and my vision went black.

…

As my senses returned slowly, I was very aware of the fact that I was tied up. Opening bleary eyes, I lifted my head slowly to look around. My vision was slightly skewed, and there was an intense pain radiating from my cheek and arm. I was on the ground outside of my hut, lying on my side with my arms restrained behind my back. I was facing towards my fire pit, which was dancing with flames and surrounded by four sizeable men. My memories of what happened returned very quickly, and I felt my heart jump into my throat once more. I couldn't feel my weapons on me.

I had been captured, and they were going to use me as a hostage. Even though I was a useless hostage, considering they were trying to use me as some kind of leverage against the village which wouldn't do them any favors. And if they found out how useless I was, they would… probably kill me.

_'No, not today.'_

Glancing to either side of me, I noted that I wasn't too far from my satchel. There were a couple of stones I had left in it that I had been sharpening for new knives. They weren't finished, but I knew they were definitely jagged enough to cut the rope binding my wrists. Looking back to the men, I carefully watched them as I crept as slowly as I could towards my satchel. They were all talking and laughing about something, but it was almost impossible to tell what through their guffaws. Once the satchel was finally within my reach, I steadily felt my way through it until I felt the rough stone. Slipping it from the bag quickly, I didn't waste any time and started sawing away at my bindings. With a frown, I realized the stone was not as sharp as I'd hoped, so it was taking more time to fray the rope.

Right before the cord snapped, one of the thugs turned to look at me, saying, "Who knows? I might even keep her for my harem!"

Pure, unfiltered dread suddenly washed over me, but I kept my eyes lowered and paused my movements to give the illusion that I was still unconscious. After the disgusting man said that, the rest of the men all chimed in in laughter, but that seemed to be the end of their attention span. They must have been too stupid to realize I was five feet away from where they left me. The one guy turned back around to face the group, so I started sawing the rope again quickly. After only another moment or two, the binding snapped.

Keeping my hands behind my back, I tucked the rock up my sleeve and continued to feign sleep. I needed an opportunity to slip away. I needed to wait until their guard was down. Patience was going to be the key to successfully escaping.

I strained to listen to their conversation, looking for clues on when I could make a move. Unfortunately, they weren't really talking about what they were doing, but more about what kind of women they wanted in their harems. The talk was vile, and I could feel my eye twitch in irritation. Why did men have to be so disgusting?

The evening seemed to drag on for eternity. It was cloudy, so it was impossible to tell just how late -or early- it was, but I guessed that it had to be close to midnight. The men's musuings were dwingling away, and I knew my opportunity would have to come soon.

And so it did, though not the way I had hoped.

"Hey, did you hear something?" one man asked, turning to scan the treeline. All the other men turned and looked as well, and I had to admit I was curious too.

"There's something to the west," another one said, his back facing the fire.

"No, you idiot, that sound is coming from the east!"

"There's something to the north!"

At the last statement, I felt myself pale.

_'Oh no. Oh nooo. This is not good. No no no.'_

This was a common tactic for one specific type of beast that roamed those forests, and I had already dealt with them once that day.

As one of the thugs took a single step towards the trees, all of a sudden seven wolves jumped into the clearing from the shadows. Their growls and snarls were almost deafening, and the men's shouting didn't help.

"Grab your spears! Defend yourselves!"

The wolves must have done as I had originally tried to avoid happening. They must have escaped the pit and then tracked my scent home. Even worse, they decided to pick up some friends on the way. But they were going to be the perfect distraction I needed to disappear.

Since all of the thugs were focused on the beasts, I scrambled to my feet as fast as lighting and ran around the side of my hut. As I hurtled myself through the trees, I heard a bark of anger from one of the wolves not far behind.

_'Damn. It must have noticed me leaving while the others were busy.'_

I needed to get the animal off my tail, and there was only one thing I could think to use to my advantage. If I could keep up my speed, I could race it to the river. Since the river was flowing heavily, I could probably lose it in there. It was so dark I couldn't really see where I was going, but the sound of the rushing river was easy to hear in the dead of night.

I followed the sounds, tripping and stumbling frequently over exposed roots and bushes. The wolf wasn't backing down either, and I could hear it gaining on me by the second. The river was loud now, and I knew I had made it. As soon as I heard the crunch of pebbles beneath my feet, I braced myself. Just a couple steps later, I felt freezing riverwater splash up my legs as I basically tossed myself into the river.

I didn't slow down as I pushed my legs harder to fight the frigid water's current. The water quickly rose up to my chest, and I was steadily losing grip with my feet. Turning my head, I saw the wolf had stopped at the water's edge and looked very unhappy with its next move. It finally jumped into the flowing water, paddling as hard as it could towards me.

A bit of panic filtered through me, causing me to misstep a little. My foot slipped off a large stone, almost fully submerging me in the raging river. I flailed my arms around a moment to regain my balance, and I was suddenly stable again to my relief. As I finally hauled myself the rest of the way across, I heard a loud yelp from behind.

Looking back, I watched as the wolf lost the battle with the river and was swept downstream.

...

_'Keep going. Got to keep going.'_

I had been repeating that mantra to myself for the past several hours as I continued running blindly through the forest. I couldn't see, couldn't think, couldn't feel - All I knew in my existence at that moment was that I had to get as far away as possible. So I kept running, ignoring the pain in my arm and face, or the burn in my frozen legs. I was still soaked to the bone from my dip in the river earlier, but I couldn't let that slow me down either.

I ran for hours, never stopping or resting. I had no way of knowing where I was, or even what direction I was heading. My lungs felt like they were completely frozen inside from heaving cold air through them, and my hair was a tousled mess around me since it had fallen from its tie long ago. I continuously pushed my body to its limit and passed it, never letting myself falter for even a moment until I was certain I was completely out of reach of both the men and the wolves. My exhausted mind feebly protested against my overexertion, but my fear took hold of everything the moment I saw those men inside my home.

_'My home...'_ I acknowledged the fact that there was a huge chance that I could never return to it. Even if the men didn't burn it down, they would have already taken anything I owned that was of use. Which was pretty much everything. On top of that, depending on the outcome of the battle against the wolves, I suddenly had wolves sniffing around the area, waiting for me to come back. I was going to have to start over somewhere new, which sounded like a real pain in the ass.

I huffed deeply as I continued to run, though it was more of a jog at that point. I had slowly been losing steam over the previous half hour, and I knew my body couldn't hold out much longer. Off to my right, the sun finally broke over the horizon, and I could finally determine that I had been running south.

_'South? Damn.' _I could have literally ran in any direction, but I just _had_ to go south.

Either way, that was about it for my stamina. Every last bit of my body ached in exhaustion, and my feet couldn't support me anymore. I collapsed to the ground on the other side of a small copse of trees, my body giving out completely.

I closed my eyes as I landed on my side, but I remained conscious, aware that I needed rest, but I was still on high alert. I had no shelter, and I felt super exposed in my current position. Anything could have attacked me, and I would have been defenseless.

"Kohaku?"


	5. Chapter 5

**_Hello my lovely readers! So, I noticed that I wasn't doing too many author's notes so I figured I'd stop and say a few quick words. As you may have noticed, this story follows a bit of a different route than most other Dr. Stone fics. It IS a ship fic, but it has a real slow burn, with a lot of actual story instead of all fluff. And this story is indeed AU, so while parts of it will come from the ANIME (I am not currently reading the manga for personal reasons), the majority will be original story. I do research everything I put in this fic that's not story, so the information is, to my knowledge, 100% accurate. I want to thank all of my reviewers I've had so far, and any reviewers I may have in the future!_**

**_WARNING: While this fic will be tame for the first half, the rating WILL be changing to 'M' later for steaminess. ALSO, THERE WILL BE POSSIBLE TRIGGERS SOON._**

**_…_**

"Kohaku?"

A shockwave coursed through my body, and on instinct I snatched the jagged rock from my sleeve and opened my eyes. Jerking into crouching position with a feral yell, I held the rock in front of me like a knife, ready to strike. Unfortunately, I really had exhausted everything I had. My balance keeled me over backwards, landing me on my butt with a harsh thud.

"Calm down, Kohaku. It's me."

That's when everything came into focus, though only barely. In front of me, in a clearing only lit by the dull, early morning light, was Senku. His hair looked just as crazy as it had a year before, and his red eyes decorated with cracks looked just as demonic as ever. He was bundled up in some furs, and he was holding a small pot off to the side. He was knelt in front of me, only a few feet away. Behind him, I could see a number of constructions littering the area, and I felt a new fear course through me.

"N-no," I stuttered, trying to drag myself backwards. "I can't be in the village."

"The village?" he repeated, cocking his head to the side. "This is the home base for my Kingdom of Science. Are you alright?"

"I... I need to go," I said, trying once more to back myself away by half-dragging myself. After only one step, I faltered and hit the ground again. "Shit."

"Whoa, slow down for one millisecond," he said, putting down the jar and approaching me cautiously. His brow was knitted together and his mouth was tilted in a slight frown. "You don't look like you need to be going anywhere."

"But - "

"I'll listen to your explanation later. We need to get your injuries looked at. You're covered in a lot of blood." He extended a hand for me to grab, but I remained motionless.

I didn't want to move anymore. Everything in me was almost completely gone. So I stayed on the ground this time, my chest heaving as I clenched my eyes shut. "It... It's not my blood," I said weakly with an added sigh. A shiver coursed through me, which meant my adrenaline was plummeting quickly and I would start feeling the cold again. "I'm not hurt too badly. Just exhausted. I've been running all night."

"You also look like you're practically covered in ice. Did you decide to swim a marathon, too?"

I shot him a glare, but finally reached up and grabbed his offered hand with my good arm. It felt odd to me, touching his hand willingly, but it was probably because I hadn't actively touched anyone in over seven years. I struggled to use his assistance to pull myself to my feet, and my exhaustion screamed at me to stop. Once I was upright, I faltered and stumbled to the side. Senku was quick to catch me, using himself as a buffer to keep me standing.

"Careful," was all he said, putting one arm around my shoulder to help steer me. "You're freezing. We need to get you warm before you develop hypothermia. While the cold doesn't specifically make people sick, the stress and exhaustion can lower your immuno-responses, which makes it easier for you to get sick." He half-carried me forward towards the closest building, which was a hut up on stilts. Stopping at the base of the ladder, he raised an eyebrow at me in amusement. "Think you can make it up on your own?"

"Of course I can," I said with as much confidence I could muster, though I did leave out the fact the I could only use one arm. I grabbed the first rung with my good arm and began my ascent, albeit a bit sloppily. I felt like I would collapse at any moment, and if I didn't rest soon I was probably going to pass out.

I finally hauled myself inside once I reached the top, a little surprised at what I found on the inside. There were baskets and pots lining the room filled to the brim with various stones and minerals, as well as a few other odds and ends. There seemed to be only a tiny section of the room dedicated to actual living quarters, which was just a couple of cots with a table.

I stumbled over to the cots as Senku came through the door, and as soon as I reached the wall, my legs folded underneath me. I landed sitting upright, and all I could do was huff in frustration. Using my position, I propped my back against the wall, resting my head back and closing my eyes.

"Here," I heard Senku say. Opening my eyes and lifting my head, I saw he was holding a couple of furs out to me. "You need something warm and dry. But don't put them on just yet. Just get those bloody ones off."

I could only nod, taking the pelts from him. He turned his back to me to gather a few other things while I peeled off my freezing wet furs. My clothes underneath were still kind of wet, but the warmer air of the hut helped keep the chill away. After another moment, Senku finally approached me and sat down.

"Alright, so first – are you hurt anywhere?" he asked, handing me a bulky blanket.

"Not really," I said, taking the blanket and draping it over my lap.

"So you don't have a bruised and swollen cheek? And I didn't watch you actively avoid using your right arm?" he inquired smoothly. I glared at him.

"My face will be fine, and my arm will too. I just need to let it rest for a while," I said shortly. I was a lot more crabby with him than what I intended, but my exhaustion was getting the better of me.

"While you're not wrong, you still need to treat it first to make sure it heals correctly," he said, pulling out some fabric from a bag sitting next to him. He moved a bit closer to me, unraveling a small bundle. "Now, what'd you do to it?"

Rolling my eyes and looking away, I muttered, "I fell and landed on it."

His facial expression as he looked at me was a bit disbelieving for a moment. "… Right…" he said slowly, reaching forward and gently prodding my arm up and down. When he struck one particular spot on my forearm, I sucked in a sharp breath at the major discomfort. He only paused and glanced me over for a moment before continuing his exploration. When he reached my shoulder, which appeared to be bulging slightly, he stopped right before he touched it. "Since I don't have an x-ray machine, it's hard to say for certain, but it feels like you may have fractured your radius. It's also ten billion percent obvious that you've dislocated your shoulder. We're gonna have to pop it back into place, which is gonna hurt like hell. Then we'll need to wrap everything tightly and put your arm in a sling."

"What do I need to do?" I asked tiredly, my eyes drooping more and more by the second.

"Lie down and be still. Here, you might wanna bite onto this if you don't want to bite your tongue off," he said with a slight quirk to his lips as he handed a small bundle of leather to me.

Looking at the bundle, I sighed. I twisted my body to the side and laid down on one of the cots, with my injured arm closer to him. Taking it and biting onto the leaather, I shut my eyes as Senku gripped my elbow and wrist. "I have to pull on your wrist, which will hurt your fractured radius. I'll try to put most of the pressure on your elbow, but this is really gonna suck." I nodded and clenched my eyes shut. Moving my arm out a bit, he muttered to himself, "Point the arm away from the body at a forty-five degree angle – " his grip tightened on my wrist and elbow " – and pull it towards me, keeping that angle and maintaining consistent force." With that, he pulled my arm towards him. Pain exploded from my shoulder and arm, but I just gritted my teeth on the thick animal hide and clenched my eyes shut tighter. After just a couple of seconds, I felt something shift in my shoulder, with an almost audible pop. Senku released his grip on my arm, and I felt immediate relief.

Turning my face and spitting out the leatherl, I panted momentarily, trying to catch my breath. I could feel small pricks of tears in my eyes, but I wiped them away quickly. "That… Sucked a lot more than I thought it would."

"Sorry about that. But now that it's done, we can get you wrapped up," he said with his usual air of confidence. He took another bundle of cloth from the bag next to him and set to work wrapping my arm from my wrist to my shoulder. Once he was sure it was tight enough, he took a large sheet of leather from the bag and tied two corners together. "Here, this is called a sling. Just slip this over your head and rest your arm in it. It'll keep you from putting too much strain on your injuries while they heal."

I took the contraption and sat up for a moment to do as he instructed. While I got the thing situated, he took one final cloth from the bag and dipped it into a jar on the table before handing it to me. "When you lie down, put this on your face. The cold water will help reduce the swelling. Now go ahead and get some rest."

I nodded briefly at him and pulled the clean furs over my head so I could warm up. As I settled myself back on the cot, with an added last thought, I looked at him and stumbled out, "Thank you… Senku."

He quirked his mouth up into a grin. "Don't mention it."

…

I wasn't sure how long I had been sleeping, but when I finally regained consciousness, it was dark outside. There was some anxiety in my chest when I remembered where I was, but I also remembered that it wasn't like I could be at home. I probably would never be able to go back home. I had been roused from my sleep by some kind of noise happening outside, but it was hard at first to tell exactly what it was. My arm hurt, and my cheek throbbed a little, but it didn't feel as bad as I thought it would. However, I knew that I probably had a massive, ugly bruise on my face from that thug's fist.

Listening a bit more intently, I determined that there was an excited voice outside nearby, followed by another. The second voice I recognized as Senku's. I heard a rung of the hut's ladder creak, and my heart started racing. I struggled for a moment with the blanket atop me, trying to get freed from it so I could get to my feet. Outside the door, I could hear Senku say, "You probably don't want go in there right now."

At that exact moment, the doors swung open, revealing a man with some rope tied into a headband and messy brown hair. "It's _my_ hut. I think I have a right to know who – " At that moment, the guy stopped talking abruptly, looking me over with his mouth agape. I finally managed to stand, heart hammering in my chest.

Senku entered in behind him, shaking his head. "I already told you, man. She might kill you – "

"Kohaku?"

The guy was looking at me in complete astonishment, standing stock still as he stared at me. Why did he look so familiar?

"Chrome?" I asked hesitantly, not daring to believe it was him.

"KOHAKU!" he shouted, jumping forward with his arms outstretched. Before he could put them around me, I panicked and lashed out with my good arm. My fist struck him in the chest, knocking him backwards flat on his back.

Hands on his hips, Senku leaned over and looked down at the guy. "See? I told you."

He stayed down, struggling to talk after being winded. "Yeah… I should've remembered… That she hits like a gorilla…"

"Who are you calling a gorilla?" I spit back. Realizing my mistake and what was happening, I sealed my lips once more and stepped back. I had already screwed up by uttering that first word. I wasn't even supposed to be so close to the village, let alone in the same room as a villager. If they caught us, they would kill me and punish Chrome. Senku, however, was probably safe, considering he wasn't a villager.

"What's wrong?" Senku asked, tilting his head to the side. "I take it you know each other?"

My eyes darted back and forth, from Chrome to Senku. While I wanted to respond to Senku, I wasn't sure if I should have even been speaking in Chrome's presence. I needed to leave immediately. However, before I could even decide what to do, Chrome hopped up from the floor, expression a bit grim.

"She's an exiled villager," Chrome explained, looking at me. "She's not supposed to be anywhere near the village, or interact with villagers at all…" His voice was a bit downtrodden, but it suddenly took an upward turn. His eyes widened as something seemed to occur to him, and his tone picked up. "But you're the chief now, Senku! You can might can reverse the decision!"

"What?!" I exclaimed, forgetting that I wasn't supposed to speak. Looking at Senku, I asked incredulously, "You're the village chief now?"

With a smug grin, Senku laughed lightly. "So I've been told."

Lowering my eyes in thought, I said, "So you won the Grand Bout?" Looking at him in the eye, I asked, "How? You're not a fighter."

"I think we have a lot to go over. How about we sit down and eat? Then we can talk."

I shook my head slightly, "I'm not even supposed to be here. I need to leave."

At that, Senku frowned slightly. He thought for a moment before his usual smirk was back. "Don't worry about any of that right now. No one knows you're here except for me and Chrome, and Chrome won't say anything, right?" He looked to Chrome expectantly.

Chrome was quick to nod his head vigorously. "Right."

The situation made me entirely uncomfortable, but if what they were saying was true, then the least I could do was stop for a moment to figure everything out. It wasn't like I had anywhere to be. "Okay."

Senku smiled and looked to Chrome. "Grab the food from the fire. We have a lot to discuss."

…

As we ate, Senku explained everything that had happened over the previous year. He told me all about how he revived his friend Taiju, and how they were forced to revive a guy named Tsukasa instead of Yuzuriha at first to save themselves from a lion (how did this man keep having trouble with lions?). He explained how Tsukasa began smashing the statues, stating that he didn't believe everyone should be revived. Senku also let me know how the man had killed him in cold blood. After going over how all of that worked out (which was a wild ride), we finally came to how Senku encountered Chrome.

" - I started walking south after that, since I knew Taiju and Yuzuriha were heading north to catch up with Tsukasa. I stumbled across Chrome's hut here, plundered it a bit, and he found me. Had a battle of sorcery, I won, and now we've worked together since to build my Kingdom of Science." Senku seemed pretty smug about that, but I just rolled my eyes.

"Alright, well that explains how you know Chrome, but how did you become chief? You have to win the Grand Bout for that, and marry the village priestess" I was genuinely confused. How did they let an outsider become chief? And how the hell did he win?

Chrome's eyes widened. He suddenly looked stricken with nerves, and a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. "Oh, um. Yeah, he did technically win, and he married Ruri, but then he may have divorced her – "

It was like an explosion was set off inside my brain. _'Married Ruri? What the hell is that supposed to mean?'_

I lowered my head and looked at my hands, my heart dropping in disappointment. My voice low and sharp, I said, "Ruri is dead. Why would you say something like that?"

There was a long silence, and I looked up to see their reactions. Chrome looked absolutely dumbstruck, and Senku just looked confused.

"Kohaku…" Chrome said, he voice unsteady. "What are you talking about? Ruri is alive."

My heart seemed to stop dead in my chest as I ceased breathing for a moment. What was he saying? Ruri was dead. My sister was dead. That was what started the whole fiasco with my exile. Why would he say she was still alive? "No. Onikisu said she was dead! The sickness finally took her!"

"Onikisu said that?" Chrome asked, sitting up a bit straighter.

"Who is Onikisu?" Senku questioned. Chrome gave me a nervous glance and then looked to Senku, concern etched in his expressions.

"He was the village chief, who took over after Kohaku's father passed away. But he uh…"

"I killed him," I said simply. I didn't bother with any fanfare. Senku would have found out sooner or later anyways.

Chrome jerked his head in my direction, eyes wide, as Senku's jaw dropped.

"What? Why?" Senku asked incredulously.

"I'm not going to give you the details, but it should be obvious it's the reason that I was exiled," I huffed. Looking back to Chrome, "Why would Onikisu tell me she was dead? Because she was sick for so long, he said she just…"

Chrome held a fist to his chin, thinking deeply. "I don't know. Her illness did keep getting worse, but she held on. The good news is we just spent the last six months making a cure for her, and it worked!"

"She's alive…" I said to myself in disbelief, tears forming in my eyes. I felt like a fist was clenched around my heart, and unbelievable joy and sadness flowed through me. "And she's been cured. I thought… I thought she was gone… He said she… But she's not… She's alive. My sister is alive? I… I need to see her. I have to see her!"

"Whoa, now," Chrome said a bit nervously. "Remember, you're still exiled. They'll kill you on the spot if you just waltz into the village right now. You murdered the chief. While Senku is the new chief after Jasper filled in for so long, we don't know if he has any real power here. The village isn't just gonna forget all that happened."

"I need to get in. I have to see her somehow," I said with a shaky breath. "I have to see for myself that she's really okay." I couldn't stop the tears that trailed down my cheeks. My voice shook as I tried to keep my emotions in check. "I spent so many years thinking she was gone, that I had nobody left. If I can just see that she's really okay, I'll leave and never come back. Please. You guys have to help me find a way. I'll do anything."

Chrome and Senku looked at each other simultaneously then back at me. Senku spoke first. "It won't be easy. Jasper and Genbukan won't let her out of their sight. They barely let me give her the drug that saved her life, and that was after winning the Grand Bout and becoming chief."

I raised a questioning eyebrow. "Genbukan? What happened to Turquoise?"

Chrome lowered his eyes. "She uh... She died. Not very long after you left. We never really figured out what happened, so everyone just assumed it was a wild animal that attacked her. Genbukan was her replacement as a priestess guard."

That sounded a bit suspicious, but it was honestly the least of my worries. "Then I need to think of a way to get Ruri alone. Outside of the village."

"You know," Senku said, leaning back onto his elbows. "There was one time they let Ruri be alone with me outside of the village. She had some priestess knowledge to bestow upon the new chief, so they left her alone for a little while. If I can convince her to go for another stroll, you may have the opportunity you're looking for."

"Wait. You were alone with Ruri?" Chrome asked, looking at Senku with wide eyes.

Senku laughed lightly. "Not like that, you dolt. I have no intentions of stealing Ruri from you. Romance is not something I have any interest in."

_'So Chrome still likes Ruri…' _I thought to myself. I supposed it wasn't a bad thing, but I was having a difficult time processing just about anything at the moment. The only thing I really cared about was seeing my sister again, making sure that she really was alive, and healed. I knew in my heart that I was willing to risk everything just for the chance to talk to her one more time. "What do you need from me? I'll do whatever it takes to make this happen."

Chrome and Senku glanced to one another briefly. Senku was the one to speak. "We'll have to make a plan. Try and get her as far from the rest of the village as possible so you're not accidentally spotted, and hope that she's not one of the people that might still be upset over what you did."

My heart sank in realization. _'What if Ruri doesn't want to see me? She was alive, she had to have known I was exiled. Did she ever agree with that? How does she feel about me now? Did she ever wonder what happened to me? Did she even care?'_

"Alright," I said a bit sullenly. "I guess we need to find out if she even wants to see me first."

"I'm sure she does," Chrome said reassuringly. "I don't get to interact with her directly much anymore, but she hasn't been the same since you left. Even when we cured her, she still seemed a bit… sad."

"We'll work out the details a bit more tomorrow," Senku said, sitting up once more. "I believe it's time now for you to explain what you've been up to since we last met. And what happened last night. Not many things leave a shiner in the shape of a human fist."

"Oh…" I said, down-casting my gaze. I was actually kind of embarrassed thinking of all of that. It was humiliating that Senku kept meeting me while I was injured. "Uh, well. I got into a fight with some wolves. The tree branch I was using broke and I fell on my arm. When I got back home…" I honestly didn't want to continue. I didn't want to tell them how weak I really was. "When I got home, there were a bunch of men in my hut. They tried to take me as a hostage, seemed to think they could use me as leverage against the village. Joke was on them, though, I guess. I bit one guy, and he knocked me out. After I woke up, the wolves from earlier attacked them and I was able to get away, so I kept running until I couldn't anymore. And that's when you found me, Senku."

"You guys have met before?" Chrome asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yeah," Senku said, leaning back. "This lioness saved me from a lion about a year ago."

"What did I say about calling me that?" I fussed, frowning. They ignored me.

"Wow, Senku," Chrome laughed. "You must be a lion magnet."

"Unfortunately," Senku scoffed, unamused. Turning his attention back to me, he asked, "Who were the men? People from the village?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "They weren't familiar to me. They did have a bunch of cracks in their faces like you have, though."

Senku's eyes widened. "Cracks?" Placing his thumb and his forefinger to his chin, he lowered his head in thought. "It must be some people Tsukasa revived. Gen warned us that he was building an army. And if they were wanting to take you as a hostage for leverage over the village, then that means they're going to try and take it over by any means necessary. This complicates some things."

"Why do they want to take over the village?" I asked.

"I don't know," Senku replied, looking up at me. "As of right now, Tsukasa should be under the impression that I'm still dead. My best guess is that he just wants the numbers to rule with, and to make sure people like Chrome here are eradicated."

"And you know he is planning to attack? Why are you just sitting around?" I asked incredulously. I needed to be as far away from the whole debacle as possible, but Ruri being alive changed everything.

"Gen told us that they plan to wait until they have more people revived," Senku said, getting to his feet. "But it takes a while to accumulate enough revival fluid for one person. I'd like to revive some of my own allies, but I haven't found another cave that houses any bats."

"We can worry about that later," Chrome said, standing up as well. "For tonight, we need to find somewhere safe for Kohaku to go. Too many people from the village stray to this area now, and we can't risk her being seen."

I followed suit, standing up straight. "That's alright. I can find a tree somewhere to sleep in."

"No, it's too cold for that," Senku said, shutting me down. "I have a small hut that I built a little ways away from here. Kind of a backup place in case things went south with the village. It's not a whole lot, but it does have a few supplies and can protect you from the elements."

"Why would things go south with the village?" Chrome asked curiously, giving Senku a strange look.

"Oh, well, you know," Senku said simply, swinging his arms out as if it was obvious. "With Magma trying to kill Gen thinking he was me, and then when Ginrou and Kinrou almost ran me through with a couple of spears. And don't forget Genbukan almost breaking my arm when I tried listening to Ruri's lungs. Making backup plans was the most logical thing to do."

"How far from here is it?" I asked. I didn't know why I was relying on the kindness of this person who was still practically a stranger, but he was right. There was no way I would be able to withstand the cold without some protection. In addition to that, I didn't need to travel too far away. I still needed to see Ruri, or at least find out if she even wanted to see me. If she didn't, then I would just have to accept that and move on. But what if the exact opposite happened? What if Ruri wanted me to come back? What if she wanted me to try and rejoin the village? I never had any intention of going back, but if it meant that I could be with my sister...

Walking to the door, Senku said, "About a mile east. Come on, I'll show you."

I nodded and followed him out, with Chrome following behind. Once we were on the ground, Senku looked to Chrome and said, "Chrome, I need you to stay back and make sure no one sees us. It's pretty late so I don't expect anyone to be around, but it's best we make sure. I'll be back in a bit."

Chrome nodded. "Right. We have to keep Kohaku's presence here quiet. At least for right now." Looking to me, Chrome's expression softened a bit. "Kohaku, it was good to see you again. Stay safe until we can figure things out, okay?"

"Thanks, Chrome," I said, a bit sullen. With that, I followed Senku off into the woods.


	6. Chapter 6

The forest was quiet as Senku and I walked a barely visible trail. It was difficult to see, but a torch would have drawn too much attention to us. With that in mind, I counted us lucky that the sky was clear and the moon was bright enough to light our way. I followed a half-step behind Senku as he took the lead through the trees, navigating our way to his backup home. The loss of my knives was really being felt at the moment, since it would be easy to attack us in the darkness. Senku wasn't a fighter, so if anything attacked, it would be up to me for defense. It was really bothering me that I was weaponless, and the jagged stone I had used before was discarded somewhere back in the clearing.

After only walking for a few minutes, my anxiety couldn't take it anymore. "Hold up, Senku. I need to make some type of weapon. I don't have anything on me and being alone in a dark forest is just asking for trouble."

Senku paused in his step, looking back at me. "There's no need for that. Here." Turning, he reached inside his bulging bag and produced a very shiny, smooth looking knife, holding it out to me. My eyes widened at the sight of it, and I couldn't help but take a step back. It looked strange, and dangerous. Senku noticed my hesitance and huffed a low laugh. "It's alright. It's just a regular knife, it's just made out of steel. It makes it ten billion times stronger."

Taking the knife from him cautiously, I looked it over carefully in awe for a moment before I looked at him and raised an eyebrow in question. "So you won the Grand Bout and now keep a weapon on you. Did you finally decide to become a warrior after almost being eaten multiple times?"

The corner of Senku's mouth quirked up in a smile. "Not exactly. Winning the Grand Bout was a fluke. As far as the weapon goes, well… Knives have a lot more uses than just as weapons."

I pondered his words for a moment. "Fair enough," I said, sliding the knife beneath my pelts and tucking it into my belt. We both began walking again, a bit slowly since it was difficult to see. "Though I really wanna hear how you won the Grand Bout. And why you even entered in the first place."

Tilting his head back to me, he said with a grin, "It's kind of a long story, but we've still got a bit of a walk so I suppose I can fill you in."

Senku launched into his explanation of how they had worked on the sulfa-drug, and how he improvised on how to retrieve resources using the villagers, down to rigging the Grand Bout in their favor to ensure Ruri got the drugs. While I was not exactly happy that he had technically married my sister, he was genuinely only interested in curing her. If only to gain himself a following.

"So… I remember Chrome saying this, but I just want to confirm…" Taking a quick step in front of Senku, I blocked his path and glared him down. "Did you really marry my sister and then DIVORCE HER?"

Senku was clearly taken by surprise at my change in attitude, and took a step back. I could see a bead of sweat roll down his forehead. "Um… Y-yeah… Something like that."

I stared at him long and hard, trying to see a hint of anything in his eyes that said he was hiding something. When he only swallowed roughly out of nervousness, I finally gave in and turned, continuing our trek. "I suppose it was unavoidable if you wanted to cure my sister."

Senku seemed to hesitate in following me, but I heard his footsteps catch up eventually after a moment. I realized I was leading the way, which was ridiculous because I didn't know where we were going, so I fell back and let him take the lead again. As he passed by me, he glanced at me with a smirk. "Where you going, lioness?"

Rolling my eyes, I crossed my arms across my chest and followed behind. Senku said that his second home was about a mile away, and it felt like we were getting close. I could hear an owl nearby, calling its nighttime song, and there was some murmur of frogs close by. Otherwise, the forest was serene and peaceful.

"Here," Senku said, stopping suddenly. I jerked backwards, narrowly avoiding colliding with his back. He was holding aside a sheet of vines, and on the other side I could barely make out a tiny campsite in the moonlight. It wasn't anything spectacular to look at, but it apparently was going to be home for a little while so it was good to see. The two of us slithered through the vines and entered the camp, with me almost tripping over a raised root in the ground.

"Damn," I cursed, just barely managing to catch myself using the trunk of a nearby tree.

Senku glanced back to me, raising an eyebrow lazily. "Careful. I picked this spot because it's very well-hidden and naturally booby trapped. Probably best to watch your step until you learn where everything is."

I could only nod as I stepped closer to the center of the area. There was a small hut built, a bit smaller than the one he'd had the previous year. In front, there was a fire pit that was dead, but there was a stack of wood piled beside the hut that was ready to burn. There wasn't much else to it.

Senku started by grabbing some of the kindling from the pile and stacking it in the empty pit. When I realized what he was doing, I asked sharply, "What are you doing?"

"Uh, starting a fire?" he said, pausing his stacking to look at me with an unimpressed expression.

Growling inwardly, I sighed and tried again. "I meant _why _are you doing that? You should probably get back before the villagers start questioning where their chief is."

Senku just huffed a laugh. "It's late, I doubt there's a single villager awake right now. I thought I'd hang out for tonight and at least help you get a fire going."

"I can build a fire just fine," I argued.

He only smirked. "Really? With that bum arm?" Piling up the rest of the wood from his arms, he stood up straight and placed his hands on his hips. "Listen, I'm not trying to be a hero or gentleman or anything. It's just illogical for you to do this while your arm still needs to heal. I'd hate to see my hard work go to waste. I'll be heading back in the morning to deal with a few things, but it's been a long day so I was just gonna rest here for tonight."

While I felt strongly about being a self-sufficient person, he made an excellent point. He didn't seem to have much of a moral compass, but instead thought of everything as logical or illogical. He wasn't selfish per say, just… solid in his convictions. So naturally, he would think me exerting myself with an injury was unnecessary and illogical when he was capable of doing it himself. That point did make me feel better about accepting his assistance, and set me at ease a little bit. "Alright. I guess I can't really tell you otherwise, even if I wanted to. This place is yours anyways."

Folding his legs beneath him, Senku sat on the ground in front of the pile of kindling. He grabbed a string, stone, and stick contraption from nearby and began making an odd motion with it on a piece of wood topped with some straw. It was clear he was trying to make fire, I had just never seen the thing he was using to do it. "Well, I built it. But for now, it's yours. Things have been going better and better with the village, so it's looking unlikely that I would need this place for myself anymore."

"I guess that's a good thing," I said, walking up beside him and sitting in the dirt. "Most of them are not bad people. I'm glad that they're willing to help you."

"But?" Senku led, still working with the contraption.

"There is no but," I said, tilting my head slightly as I watched him. "You needed manpower, and you found a way to get it while also providing them services."

Senku said nothing for a moment as he picked up the small bundle of straw and blew on it, causing it to ignite and catch fire. As he used that to set up the pit, he finally responded, "It was only to ensure they cooperated. Everybody needs something, the hard part is finding out what. Still trying to understand what I can do to get you on my side as well." With that last statement, he raised his head to look at me with and eyebrow quir up.

"Heh," I laughed half-heartedly, looking down at my folded hand. "I guess you already have. You saved my life, you fixed my arm, and you cured my sister. That's more than enough to make me want to follow you. If you can arrange for me to see my sister again, I'd do whatever you asked of me for the rest of my life."

The fire crackled as it slowly built itself up, the flames swirling and dancing in the cold night air. When I glanced up, I noticed Senku looking me over with an odd expression before it was replaced with his usual smirk. Quirking up the corner of his lips, he said casually, "While I don't think a lifelong deal is necessary, I will definitely do my best to arrange something. Having an overpowered lioness like you as an ally of the Kingdom of Science would give us a major edge."

That was good news, I supposed. While there was still the chance that Ruri wouldn't want to see me, I had to at least try. If she didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore, then I would just have to accept that and move on. But if she did… I would fight through hellfire to see her, village rules be damned. "I'll do whatever you want. I'll even take that Tsukasa guy head on if I have to."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he said, glancing at me, narrowing his eyes just a fraction. "You're crazy strong, but I watched the guy kill a lion with his bare hands. No normal human will be able to overpower him, but with science… Science levels the playing field. Let's not worry about ol' Tsukasa right now, though. You should probably get some more rest. You still look pretty rough."

My expression dropped into a frown, a low growl of irritation coming out. "I look just fine. But whatever." Getting to my feet, I followed up with, "I'm still pretty tired, though, so I'm gonna head on in anyway. Goodnight, Senku."

''Night," he responded lazily, leaning back slightly to watch me disappear into the hut.

…

When I woke up the next day, Senku was gone, but not without leaving a few things behind. The fire was still steadily going, so that was something I wouldn't need to worry about for a while. By the fire, there was a pot filled with water and next to the doorway, there were a couple of large clear containers that appeared to be made out of ice. They looked to have meats inside, which was curious. Walking to the containers, I noticed there was a scrap of material tucked beneath one. Pulling it out, I saw that it had a message written on it from Senku.

_'Here's some preserved meats you can have. The way it's stored in these jars keeps it from spoiling quickly. I'll probably be back around in a couple of days._

_–Senku'_

How had he made a jar out of ice, though? And how did he make the ice so _clear_? I situated myself onto my knees and leaned down to look at them, scrutinizing them. They were so clear it was unbelievable, and I couldn't resist touching one. Using my good arm, I reached out and gently stroked the strange jar with my fingers. As soon as my fingertips grazed the smooth surface, I jerked my hand back as if it had been burned. It didn't feel anything like any ice I had touched before. While the surface was cool and smooth, it wasn't the biting, wet cold like I knew. Backing away from the jars, I eyed them warily. While I apparently trusted Senku (though I wasn't sure when that happened), his sorcery, his "science", was still something I was very much unsure of.

Ignoring the jars for now, I went about establishing my new home.

First was to make sure I had plenty of firewood. While there was a decent sized stack already, it would probably only last a couple of days at most. And since I didn't trust the jarred meats, I would need to gather what I could for food. It was a real tragedy that I had so much already prepared for the winter, but those men with the cracked faces had to go and ruin all of my hard work. I also needed to craft some baskets for storage, since it seemed the site was sorely lacking in that area. All in all, it could have been better, but definitely could have been worse, too. At least I had shelter, which was a much better start than I'd had several years before.

I worked on all of this for a few days. Finding anything edible was a real chore, considering Winter was in full swing and resources were scarce. There didn't seem to be any wildlife nearby that would work, and a lot of vegetation was out of season. I did find some hazelnuts, so they would have to work.

Senku said he would probably be back after a couple of days, but several days had already passed. I normally wouldn't have cared, but I was burning with curiosity over what was going on with Ruri. Did they talk to her yet? Did she indicate that she might want to see me again? Did she even care? I had ten billion thoughts and questions running through my mind, almost all of them regarding Ruri. I had spent so long, seven years to be exact, mourning the loss of her and our father. Knowing she was still alive awakened something in me, something I had thought was long gone. I wasn't sure what it was, but I didn't want to let it go.

I knew worrying over everything wasn't going to help, and honestly, it was probably going to make things worse for me. However, I was at a possible turning point in my life. Depending on how everything went, I might could possibly have a new life, a different one. If Ruri wanted me to stay, I would stay. I didn't know how I'd get around my exile, but I'd figure a way out. Senku being chief definitely gave me a better chance at attaining my goal, but I couldn't rely on that simply because his title was mostly a formality.

About a week after I first arrived, I awoke in the early morning hours to the sounds of something outside the small hut. Getting to my feet in a flash, I snatched the knife Senku gave me from the small table and jumped out the doorway with the knife raised, ready to strike whatever unfortunate animal had wandered upon my site. It was still dark outside, so when I burst through the door, I didn't see whatever was blocking the doorway and slammed into it. We both toppled to the ground, with me on top with my knife raised.

"That's one hell of a greeting," a familiar voice said with a amused drawl, though it sounded a tiny bit strained from my attack.

"Oh," I said in surprise, lowering my knife. "Senku?" My vision adjusted a bit more to the darkness, and I could finally see the man beneath me with the wild green hair. "Why are you prowling around here in the middle of the night? The sun hasn't even risen yet."

Looking up at me, he gave me his signature smirk. "I'd be happy to tell ya, but let's get back vertical first."

When he said that, I remembered that I was straddling him, looking down on him beneath me. My cheeks actually warmed up a bit, and I was quick to remove myself from him and sheathe the knife in my belt. Noting how the temperature had dropped even more, I let Senku situate himself as I wandered over to the low burning embers in the fire pit to add a few logs. As Senku stood, he brushed himself off a little before facing me. "So, you up for an early morning stroll?"

I turned my head quickly to look at him questioningly, my brow furrowing in confusion. "You came here before it was even daylight to go for a walk?"

"Something like that," he said with his smug grin. Tilting his head to the side beckoningly, he said, "Come on. I have something I want you to see." He turned on his heel, not waiting for my response, and started exiting the clearing.

While I was highly skeptical of whatever was going through that brainy head of his, my curiosity always seemed to get the better of me in those types of situations. I took off after him, catching up to him on the other side of the vines. The nightlife was still making its music, though it was rather muted due to the cold. The moon wasn't out, and the clouds covering it looked like possible snow. Senku walked ahead of me, and I noticed he was carrying that bag again on his back. He was just as stoic as ever, and nothing really seemed to be amiss with him. While we walked, I hesitantly asked, "So… Have you had a chance to talk to Ruri yet?"

"Actually, I have," he said with a surprisingly light tone. "But we'll talk shop later. Let's get to our destination, first."

I opened my mouth as ten billion questions tried to burst forth from me, but it was clear that he had his reasons for whatever was going on, so I closed my mouth and nodded instead. We didn't walk too terribly far, maybe about a mile northeast from the hut. We did so in silence, which made me nervous. Senku was not the mysterious type, so being so secretive was completely out of character for him. When he finally halted his march, we were standing in front of a massive tree, which was just barely illuminated by the clouded-over sliver of moon.

Looking back at me with an amused expression, he said, "Wait here."

I did as he instructed, and waited while he approached the tree and removed the bag from his shoulder. He knelt down, pulling something from the bag and messing around at the base of the tree. I was shivering slightly, the cold a bit too much, even for me. Pulling my furs tighter around me, I squinted in the darkness as I tried to see what he was doing. After only a minute or two, Senku turned his head back to me and asked, "You ready?"

"For what?" I asked in exasperation.

Senku touched something on the trunk of the tree, and then I knew exactly what he meant.

It was low at first, and I almost didn't catch what was happening. Orbs of light began glowing through the branches of the tree, slowly illuminating one by one, until the entire thing was lit up like magic. It was honestly the most amazing and beautiful sight I had ever seen. The lights looked like what I always imagined when Ruri would tell me the story about fairies, just balls of light interspersed through the brambles and making a breathtaking spectacle. A small gasp escaped me, but I didn't care. It was incredible, and I was in complete awe. How did he make those balls of light?

"The Edison light bulb," Senku said, drawing my attention. He was standing back, hands on his hips as he grinned at the shining lights in the tree. "Created by Thomas Edison by 1897, it was the first high resistance, incandescent electric light. He made it by passing electricity through a thin platinum filament in a glass vacuum bulb, which delayed the filament from melting. This one, however, uses a bamboo fiber. In this stone world, it was hard as hell to make, but we finally did it."

"It's beautiful…" I said, looking back at the shining tree. "It's light in the darkness, with no fire to be seen. It's absolutely amazing, Senku. But…" Turning my gaze back to him, I saw that he was still looking at me with an unusual expression. I cocked my head to the side. "Why did you bring me out here to show me this?"

Expression returning to normal, he shrugged his shoulders and responded, "Just a flex, I guess. It was something the villagers and I worked on quite diligently. Pretty proud of this work, to be honest."

Looking back up at the shining lights, I couldn't help but agree. In a breathless voice, I said, "It's definitely something to be proud of. It's incredible that something like this even exists."

"Yeah," he said casually, looking back up at his work. "It's not too bad. I planned to gather everyone tonight to show them their hard work, but since you can't exactly show your face around them, I figured I'd give you a private viewing ahead of time."

"Thank you," I said, unable to take my eyes off the spectacle. "It's wonderful."

Senku only smiled.

…

The sun was starting to peek over the horizon by the time the two of us had arrived back at camp. After the awe of the lights wore off about halfway back, I realized just how cold I really was. I could barely suppress my shivers, and the cold air felt like knives cutting through space. Entering the small clearing, I immediately grabbed a few more logs of wood and tossed them onto the lowly burning fire. My stomach was starting to cramp up, which was my cue to eat a few more hazelnuts.

Reaching inside the door of the hut, I grabbed my small sack of nuts and went back to warm myself by the fire. Sitting on a log I had pulled up nearby, I watched Senku from the corner of my eye settle on it next to me. Opening the bag, I fished out a few nuts I had already shelled for myself and then offered the bag to Senku.

"It's not much, but they're really good," I said, popping one into my mouth. My stomach growled audibly at that moment, making me cringe.

Senku eyed the bag and me carefully. Moving his gaze to the hut, his eyes landed on the two jars that hadn't been moved since he had left them there. "Are nuts all you've been eating?"

"There's not much else available this time of year," I said, crunching into another nut.

"That's why I left you those preserved meats," he said.

I looked over at the jars and narrowed my eyes. "I don't trust them."

Senku looked dumbfounded for a moment, looking back and forth between me and the jars with eyes narrowed, before his eyes widened a fraction in realization. "Oh. You've never seen glass before. That makes sense."

"Glass?" I asked, cocking my head to the side with my question.

Standing up, Senku walked over and grabbed one of the jars. Bringing it to me and holding it front of the fire so I could see it better, he explained. "It's a synthesized material made from quartz sand, some limestone, and a few other chemicals. Melt it all down together and you get this sweet material that's easy to process and can withstand most elements. It's great for chemistry, or in this case, great for storing food."

"You made this?" I asked, reaching out and lightly touching the 'glass' again.

"Yeah. It was necessary for us to make the sulfa drug to cure your sister." Turning, he grabbed a three stakes from the fire and sat down next to me once more. "I'm gonna go ahead and throw some of this rabbit meat on the fire. You can eat fruits and nuts all you want, but you'll develop a B12 deficiency if you don't supplement it. It won't affect you right away, but after a few months or years, you'll start getting sick."

Senku opened the jar and began removing chunks of the meat, impaling the pieces on the stakes and setting them to cook over the fire. I eyed the third stake warily. "Why three?"

"Chrome should be here soon," he said, jamming the butt of the stakes into the ground by the fire. "We wanted to talk to you about Ruri."

"Yeah, we've got some good news and some bad news on that," a voice said suddenly from just a few feet behind me.

My skin prickled and my hair stood on end in surprise. A sweat broke out on my forehead and my heart jumped into my throat in fear, and I basically tossed myself forward away from the sound. I landed harshly in the dirt, turning over in an instant to face whoever it was. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I felt like someone had an icy grip around my throat in my panic. When I saw that it was just Chrome standing a little ways away, I relaxed a bit.

Chrome looked confused and a bit startled at my actions, while Senku only raised an eyebrow at me. Chrome spoke first. "Whoa, Kohaku. Calm down, it's just me."

And then embarrassment flooded through me. I knew that I had some serious issues regarding being around other humans, but my knee-jerk reactions were not supposed to be so blatant. I had only recently become even remotely comfortable around Senku. However, Chrome had been my childhood friend. I would have thought my reactions to him would have been much more mild compared to my reactions to Senku.

"R-right," I said nervously, getting to my feet and dusting myself off. Trying to gloss over that slip-up, I said, "So, there's news on Ruri?"

"Yeah," Senku said, settling back on the log.

"She wants to see you."


End file.
